Tony’s practice centres on mergers and acquisitions. He advises on listed company takeovers and mergers, including unsolicited deals involving applications to the Takeovers Panel, as well as negotiated public company mergers and private M&A deals.

Tony is co-author of a leading book on public company mergers, Schemes, Takeovers and Himalayan Peaks, now in its second edition. He is recognised in Chambers and Partners Global Guide, described in the latest edition as a “leading light”. Tony is also referred to in the three Australian editions to date of Best Lawyers, in Asia Pacific Legal 500, in PLC Which Lawyer? and in the IFLR 1000 and is rated “Pre-eminent” in M&A in the Doyle’s Australian Legal Guide.

Tony won Dealmaker of the Year at the inaugural 2010 Lawyers’ Weekly Icon Awards. Tony was included in the 2009 Australasian Legal Business list of Australia’s “Hot 40” leading lawyers and was also nominated as “Dealmaker of the Year” at the ALB 2009 Law Awards.

Mergers and acquisitions

Tony’s experience includes acting on the following transactions:

• Centennial Coal in relation to the recommended $2.5 billion takeover bid by Banpu (2010).
• Caliburn Partnership on its acquisition by Greenhill & Co., Inc (2010).
• Metcash’s acquisition of a controlling stake in the Mitre 10 Group by way of scheme of arrangement (2010).
• Eldorado Gold Corporation on its A$2.4 billion acquisition of Sino Gold Mining Limited (2009). This deal won Mining Journal’s 2009 Deal of the Year award.
• Gloucester Coal Limited on its A$1.2 billion proposed merger with Whitehaven Coal Limited, and Noble Group’s concurrent bid for Gloucester (2009).  This deal was awarded M&A Deal of the Year (2009) by FinanceAsia.
• Commonwealth Bank on its A$2.1 billion acquisition of BankWest. This deal was Asia Money M&A Deal of the Year, CFO M&A Deal of the Year  and was nominated as ALB M&A Deal of the Year (2008).
• Santos on its U$2.6 billion sale of coal seam methane assets to PETRONAS in relation to the GLNG project. This deal was nominated as ALB Energy & Resources Deal of the Year (2008).
• BUPA’s A$2.4 billion demutualisation and acquisition of MBF. This deal was awarded INSTO Innovative Deal of the Year (2008).
• QBE’s A$8.7 billion scheme proposal to IAG (2008).
• Commonwealth Bank’s A$380 million acquisition of listed broker IWL by way of scheme (2007).
• Centennial Coal’s A$1.1billion sale of Anvil Hill and its stake in Austral Coal to Xstrata (2007).
• The Gloucester Coal/Xstrata scheme proposal and CAMEC’s takeover for OmegaCorp (2007).
• Tullow Oil plc’s $1.47 billion acquisition by way of scheme for Hardman Resources (with US$1billion debt facility). This deal was nominated as Energy & Resources deal of the year at the 2007 ALB Law Awards (2007).
• Peabody Energy in its successful A$2 billion contest for control of Excel Coal by way of scheme. This deal was nominated as Energy & Resources deal of the year at the 2007 ALB Law Awards (2006).
• Flight Centre’s A$1.6 billion public to private proposal and subsequent leveraged joint venture with PEP, acting for the Founders (2006).
• Commonwealth Bank on the sale of its interests in the 2100MW Loy Yang A power station and mine (2005).
• Shuffle Master, Inc. on its A$150 million takeover bid for Stargames (2005).
• Deutsche Bank entities on Chapter 6 aspects of the A$3.3 billion stapling of its property trusts (2004).
• Cashcard on its A$259 million acquisition by First Data by way of scheme, following a dual track IPO / trade sale process (2004).
• Investa Property Group in its successful unsolicited A$1.5 billion cash and scrip takeover bid for Principal Office Fund (2003).
• AurionGold Limited’s response to Placer Dome’s unsolicited A$2 billion takeover bid (2002).
• Commonwealth Bank entities in their successful A$1.6 billion contest with rival bidder Mirvac for Colonial First State Property (2002).
• Billiton on its A$57 billion merger with BHP (2001).
• Goldfields Limited in its A$1.2 billion merger with Delta Gold (2001).
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its A$10.1 billion acquisition of Colonial Limited by way of schemes of arrangement (2000).
• ABN AMRO Bank NV on the restructure of its Australian operations and sale of a 20% interest to management.
• Commonwealth Bank in various M&A deals including its acquisition of its stake in Aussie Home Loans, of Avanteos, of Symetry, of its stake in 452 Capital and the divestment of its custody business.
• CSR Limited in its US$275 million disposal of certain of its Australian aluminium interests to Alcan.
• The Rugby Group Plc in relation to the A$431 million AdBri deal.
• Various companies on the Australian aspects of foreign takeovers, including Barrick Gold’s US$2.3 billion acquisition of Homestake and QBE Insurance’s £375 million bid for Limit Plc.
• Various board spill requisitions, including those involving Troy Resources, GoldLink and BigAir.

Private equity

Tony has acted on the following private equity transactions:

• The Flight Centre privatisation proposal.
• GS Private Equity on the management buyouts of Amart All Sports, McKechnie and its investment in Dôme Coffees.
• Investcorp’s €375 million acquisition of the Stahl Group.
• GreenGrocer.com.au on the acquisition by Woolworths.

Securities markets

Experience includes acting for Citigroup and Commonwealth Bank on various listed warrant issues and other structured products.

Tony holds the degrees of Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Master of Laws, from the University of Sydney. He was formerly a tutor in law at St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney. He joined Freehills in 1996 and became a partner on 1 January 2003.

He is the co-author of Schemes, Takeovers and Himalayan Peaks, the inaugural monograph of the University of Sydney’s Ross Parsons Centre, which is now in its second edition. Tony also lectures in takeovers at the University.

He has co-authored chapters in Securities Regulation in Australia and in the International Survey of Investment Adviser Regulation. Tony has contributed articles to leading law journals, including the International Financial Law Review, the Company & Securities Law Journal, the Journal of Banking and Finance Law & Practice and the World Corporate Finance Review.